4 iconic movie performances from 4 of our favorite pop icons that you can stream right now - Queerty (2024)

Welcome to your weekend streaming recommendations, a.k.a. theWeekend Watch,a handy guide to the queerest film and TV content that’s just a click away!

Are you a Kylie girl? Madonna stan? Cher disciple? Wherever your pop icon allegiances lie, there’s no doubting the indelible mark legends like Tina Turner and others have made on the queer community.

But it’s not just the music they’ve gifted us with: Many of our all-time favorite divas have taken their talents to the world of film, too, gracing our screens with their superstar presence—even if the movie’s weren’t always worthy of worthy of them.

For this week’s streaming picks, we’re spotlighting major motion pictures that feature some of the most indelible pop stars of all time, each with a special place in the hearts of gays everywhere. This eclectic group of movies ranges from rom-com to musical to maligned video game adaptation, but all of them are elevated by these timeless queens.

Moonstruck

This swoony 1987 romantic comedy, directed by Norman Jewison, stars “Goddess of Pop” Cher as Loretta Castorini, a newly engaged Italian-American widow, who falls in love with her soon-to-be brother-in-law, the melodramatic and handsome breadmaker Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas Cage). As Loretta and Ronny grow closer, her family deals with their own problems—her mother, Rose (Olympia Dukakis), is unhappy and knows that her husband, Cosmo (Vincent Gardenia) is having an affair. This beautiful movie has some of the most romantic scenes we’ve seen in a rom-com, and some of the best one-liners from Cher (and everyone else), including the legendary “Snap out of it!”

Now streaming on Fubo, Roku, MGM+, Hoopla, Tubi, Pluto and Showtime.

Evita

Alan Parker’s 1996 film adaptation of the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical may not be the best musical film of all time, but at least there’s no “butthole cut” (yes, we’re looking at you, Cats). The “Queen of Pop” stars as the titular Eva Perón, the iconic Argentine actress-turned-politician, who rapidly rose to prominence and died at the age of 33. The film features Jonathan Pryce as Eva’s husband, Juan Perón, and the hunky Antonio Banderas as the film’s narrator, Ché. Madonna is an interesting and ultimately compelling choice to play this role, which was memorably portrayed on-stage by the likes of Patti LuPone, Elaine Paige, and Julie Covington.

Now streaming on Hoopla. Available to rent digitally on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Apple TV, Fandango At Home, and Microsoft Store.

Street Fighter

Okay, wait, hear us out! While there is no doubt that this 1994 video game adaptation, directed by Steven E. de Souza, is a disaster, we’d like to point out that it is a SPECTACULAR disaster. Based on the fighting game series of the same name, Street Fighter stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Colonel Guile, who must race against time to stop a hostage crisis in the fictional nation of Shadaloo from the evil General Bison (the late, also-hunky Raúl Juliá). “Princess of Pop” Kylie Minogue co-stars as Cammy White, one of Guile’s lieutenants. While this film is a mess—seriously, it’s wild how wrong they got Street Fighter—it’s also highly entertaining, unintentionally campy and has Van Damme’s sweaty muscles and bulging biceps all over the place. Minogue is probably the most normal thing about this one!

Available to rent digitally on Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, Fandango At Home, Microsoft Store, and Amazon.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

The “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll,” Tina Turner, stars in the third installment of the post-apocalyptic Mad Max films. In Thunderdome, Mad Max (Mel Gibson, sigh) befriends Aunty Entity (Tina Turner), who presides over Bartertown. Aunty hires Max to kill Master Blaster (Angelo Rossitto) for vague reasons, but of course things don’t go as planned and Max gets on Aunty’s bad side. Turner is FANTASTIC in this film. She is the movie. The back-and-forth between Gibson and Turner, combined with the typical Mad Max insanity and a single by Turner, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome),” make this an essential part of the canon. What canon? Queer, action and more.

Now streaming on Max. Available to rent digitally on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, Fandango At Home, and Microsoft Store.

The Kicker…

In this classic scene from Will & Grace, Jack (Sean Hayes) meets his idol, Cher and can’t believe it—like, he literally can’t believe it.

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